Chapter 23: Secretary Liu Quan

The family planning work in Gude Village was finished. I handed the investigation report to Liu Quan. In my report, I used detailed figures to show the severity of the work in Gude Village. In the entire village, there was almost no one who had only one child. The best family had a child who was three years old, and the mother's belly was just beginning to bulge. The most serious family had five children, the oldest ten and the youngest just one, and there was already another one in the belly. The whole village had a population of eight hundred, with Han people accounting for more than half. There was not a single person in the whole village working or doing business outside; the only businessman was in the breeding pig business, which meant specifically driving breeding pigs to other people's homes to mate with sows. The whole village had more than three hundred *mu* of land, with paddy fields accounting for one-third, and the whole year depended on the face of God to eat, with an average income of two hundred yuan per person. It was a very thorough poverty-stricken village.

At the end of the report, I mentioned a detail: Gude Village had tens of thousands of tea oil trees, and each family could produce nearly a thousand catties of tea oil every year. The method of pressing was very ancient, which reduced the oil yield. If a new pressing method was used, the oil yield could be increased by nearly one-third.

Gude Village had no roads, no water, and no electricity. Villagers basically used tea oil or soybean oil for lighting. Gude Village wanted to get rich, but unfortunately, they hadn't found a way to get rich. The whole village had nearly three hundred strong laborers; besides bragging, they just had children.

The last sentence was added by me on the spur of the moment. I just wanted to let Secretary Liu Quan not be too tired when reading the report and give him a little happiness.

Liu Quan came to my room early the next morning. When he came, I hadn't gotten up yet. The sound of his knocking on the door was very loud, a bit like tearing down a house. My fragile wooden house was almost pushed down by him. His knocking woke up Hongyan next door. I heard her door open with a creak, and then Hongyan's sleepy voice: "Dad, so early, what are you doing here?"

"The sky is bright!" Liu Quan said: "You young people, you have to wait until the sun hits your butt to get up, right?"

Then I heard Hao Qiang's voice: "Dad, what's the matter? So urgent?"

"Something's up, something's up!" I heard Liu Quan say: "But I'm not looking for you, I'm looking for Secretary Chen." He started calling me.

I responded, put on my clothes, and got out of bed.

In Suxi Township, this was the first time I had gotten up so early. I didn't sleep late, but when I first came, breakfast was not available, so it was better to lie in the quilt. After a long time, I actually developed the habit of not eating breakfast. The habit of staying in bed was also retained.

I opened the door, and Liu Quan was full of joy. Seeing me, he grabbed me and said: "Let's go drink!"

I smiled bitterly and said: "Secretary Liu, it's early in the morning, where are we going to drink!"

"There's a place for you to drink, hurry up and wash your face, I'll wait for you." Secretary Liu stood at the door with his hands crossed, like a door god.

I had no choice but to wash my face in a hurry and follow him to the office.

Secretary Liu Quan took out a bottle of Yuntou Daqu liquor from the cabinet. He opened his mouth and bit off the bottle cap. He placed a large glass in front of me and poured half a glass with a gurgle. After pouring the wine, he shouted at Hongyan's room: "Hao Qiang, you come and drink a little too. Tell little Hongyan to fix some side dishes."

I was in a fog, not knowing why.

Secretary Liu Quan raised his glass and signaled to me. We clinked, and he drank half a glass. He wiped his big hand across his face, let out a sigh, and said: "Secretary Chen, I've studied your report, good, good, very good!"

I said very modestly: "It's all thanks to your guidance, Secretary."

"Brother Chen, you discovered the problem, not bad!" He suddenly changed his address to "Brother," which I couldn't adapt to for a while.

"We Communists, once we discover a problem, we must analyze it, and the most important thing is to solve it! What are we cadres doing? We are here to seek welfare for the common people. If we can't seek welfare for them, what are we doing? It's not as good as the Kuomintang period, right?"

I had no choice but to smile sheepishly.

"I thought about it all night last night. After studying your report, I've been thinking about how to make the people of Suxi rich. Farming? No. Animal husbandry? No. Running a factory? That's a joke! The only way is..." He drank another sip of wine.

"Our advantage is that resources are very rich, these are things others don't have! Last time you turned those damn mushrooms into money, the whole township is talking about you. It's a pity that mushrooms only come once a year, if there were some every day, that would be great!" He laughed, but I could still hear the helplessness in his laughter.

"Brother Chen still remembers, right? You are not just a secretary of the township government now, you also have an identity, that is, the legal representative of the company. Our company hasn't opened since the mushroom business. This can't blame you, there are so many chores in the township every day, dragging you into it, making you unable to exert the company's functions. This is my dereliction of duty! I want to review."

He had a bitter look on his face. I was dumbfounded. Wasn't that broken company just a shell company? I, the legal representative, was just an empty shell, not to mention that the company had no money, not even a place to work. I suddenly remembered that we made a wooden sign on the day the company was established, but I hadn't paid attention to it for a while, and I didn't know where it went.

"I want to let the company continue to operate. Brother, you put down the work at hand, I will assign you a few people, and you will be fully responsible for the economic development of the township. I have seen it, this time I will invest all the money for the township's salary. I asked Lao Zhao, there are more than 50,000, and there is a poverty alleviation fund in the county, which also has more than 100,000, which is the official investment of the township. What do you think?"

Liu Quan looked at me eagerly, raised his glass, and drank a sip of wine blandly.

I thought about it and said: "Okay! I still have more than 200,000 in the foundation, take it out, let's operate it well, I don't think there's a big problem."

Just as we were talking, Hao Qiang came over, his face full of fatigue. It seemed like he didn't sleep well at all last night. He looked at me, raised his glass, and drank a big sip. He swallowed it with difficulty.

"I'll assign you these people, what do you think?" He pointed his fingers and counted for me: "Liu Hongyan counts as one, and Lao Zhao's daughter-in-law counts as one. There are still one or two missing, we will also have a recruitment, open recruitment in the whole township, what do you think?"

He counted one, and my heart skipped a beat. I said: "This is not urgent!"

"How can it not be urgent? Liu Hongyan has done mushroom business with you, so she has experience. Lao Zhao's daughter-in-law is a good person, knows characters, her husband is in the foundation, and her father-in-law is in the township finance. There are many times when we need their help. We can't let them not have someone come. This Lao Zhao's daughter-in-law is taken out, and it won't ruin our company's image. I think it's decided, as for the recruitment, you decide how to recruit, how to test, everything is up to you!"

Hao Qiang looked at me and said to Liu Quan: "Dad, don't let the little sister go to the company, she is a woman, what can she do? Besides, our Manager Chen is also afraid of trouble."

Liu Quan glared at him and said: "What's wrong with women? If you don't go out to break through when you are young, will you be like me when you are old? Stay in Suxi for a lifetime? It's not bad for young people to suffer a little bit, with our Manager Yu here, will there still be suffering? That's it, don't hold her back!"

I really didn't know what to say! It wasn't that I didn't need them, but my past things, I was afraid of what I would do in the future?

I said to Hao Qiang: "Director Hao, don't worry!"

My words were double-edged. I think he should have understood what I meant!

Hongyan took some dried fruits from the mountains and pushed the door in and asked: "What are you worried about?"

I told her her father's decision. As soon as she heard it, she was full of excitement and said: "I'll be responsible for the recruitment. I recommend one, Pan Xiaoqin from Gude Village, she is a very good person, we are also familiar."

I was struck by lightning again, damn it, which pot is not opened, there is not enough Jin Ling, and I have to stuff a yellow-haired girl in. So many women's army, it may not be my blessing! ===== CHAPTER 24 =====